Sonic Returns
by LeonardoLeads
Summary: A sequel to the Sonic The Hedgehog movie, set six months after the events of the film. Sonic is no longer alone, living openly among the inhabitants of Green Hills as a hero. But when a stranger from his home planet comes to earth seeking his aid, the blue blur will be torn between his future, his past, and two separate worlds...
1. Chapter 1

** Sonic Returns**

**Prologue: A self-made monster.**

**_Mushroom Hill zone, Mushroom planet. five months after Robotnik and Sonic's battle in Green Hills;  
_**

"Rockconnasance, Agent Stone!" Dr. Ivo Robotnik laughed manically, tossing the carved stone head onto the path in front of him. "Rockconnasance!"

As he wandered among the large toadstools and fungi, the now half-crazed scientist laughed and muttered to himself and his small rock carving. The tattered red flight suit, bald head, and overgrown mustache served as examples of the slow erosion of what little sanity he had to begin with. Once the greatest Roboticist under the employ of the United States government, his battle with the spiky blue creature had left him stranded in this mushroom wasteland for several months. While the mushrooms and small pools of clean water had severed as a decent source of nourishment and hydration, the doctor had grown somewhat obese from his new dietary habits. Setting down the pack he now carried a large pack full of metal scraps and components from his destroyed ship, the mad scientist picked up the small stone head he had carved, in order to yell at it again.

"I am trapped here because of that dreadful little 'Sonic' creature, and his foolish antics." Robotnik growled, barely containing his rage. "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"

In a burst of blind fury, the doctor threw the stone head against a large boulder on the ground, shattering it into several tiny pieces. But as Robotnik turned to continue his endless wandering, he spotted something glittering on the ground where the stone head had shattered.

"Hello, what's this?" The mad scientist exclaimed, reaching down to pick up the mysterious object. "It seems, Agent Stone, there was a beautiful gem underneath your rocky exterior."

Scraping the dirt off of his new find, Robotnik found himself holding a mysterious green gemstone. This bauble was cut in the shape of a diamond, with an eerie glow lighting up its translucent interior. The doctor felt almost electrified holding the gem, his fatigue and weariness fading away as his gazed at his new treasure.

"This gemstone, it almost looks like..." he muttered aloud in amazement. "Could it be?"

Putting the green bauble in his flight suit pocket, Robotnik reached into his pack, and pulled out a tattered and torn old journal. It was the personal diary of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, a scientist who had worked for the government more than 50 years ago. It had been the one thing the people who ran the orphanage had allowed him to keep from his birth family, besides his last name. The book had seemed filled with mad ramblings to anyone else who read it, but the technical details and descriptions inside has inspired Ivo to become a scientist, just like his grandfather.

"I always thought grandfather was mad, rambling about working on a space colony and meeting strange aliens." The doctor muttered, as he flipped through the yellowing pages. "But if this is what I think it is- ah! I was right!"

Stopping on a page in the middle, Robotnik gazed upon a colored sketch of seven bright gemstones, each one a different hue. His grandfather had drawn them in a circle, with a large green gem in the very center. Realizing what he had stumbled across, an insane grin spread across Ivo Robotnik's face.

"I've done it! I have discovered one of the Chaos Emeralds!" The doctor laughed maniacally. "At last, I'll get back at the little blue devil for stranding me here!"

...

Now filled with hope, the doctor took the components of his smashed ship he had in his backpack, and built a small worker robot. As soon as he plugged the Chaos emerald into the drone, it immediately set about it's work, and built another worker robot in under a half hour. Robotnik then built a charging station to power each robot at from the emerald, and set them about on more rapid construction projects, taking the raw material they needed from the ground. Before the day was over, the doctor had an army of a hundred worker robots- powerful machines, ready to build or repair anything at his command. Looking proudly over his children, the mad scientist smiled.

"All right, my lovelies, it's time to build daddy a new home." He ordered, drawing up a set of plans on a blank page of the journal. "And time to build an army of brothers and sisters to help get revenge on that accursed sonic!"

Over the next few weeks, the work robots constructed the massive walls and buildings for Robotnik's new citadel -the metropolis zone. The massive complex quickly spread out over Mushroom Hill, expanding to nearly the size of Manhattan in less than a month. As soon as the citadel's robot factories were operational, Robotnik programmed them to churn out thousands of his 'badniks'- colorful cartoonish robot designs he had sketched as a child. Bee-like buzz bombers that flew through the air, and motobugs that resembled metal lady bugs with one wheel. caterkillers that bored deep into the ground, And even a very goofy looking series of crustacean bots, called crabmeats. All these buffoonish designs came out of the shattered mind of the now insane doctor. But though these robots looks harmless they were all armed with lasers and weapons that could be downright lethal.

Standing in the Metropolis zone's central control, Ivo Robotnik was standing over a computer monitor, looking at a data readout. Now dressed in a red and yellow version of his destroyed flight suit, the doctor pulled his goggles up onto his forehead, and slipped on a pair of sunglasses. Studying his computers carefully, the mad scientist began to plot his next move.

"When that accursed hedgehog knocked me through the warp ring, my damaged ship's sensor managed to analyze the portal." He said aloud, to nobody in particular. "Soon, I should be able to use the emerald's energies to open a portal back home. Then, I will get my revenge on that blasted hedgehog, and-" He paused, thinking for a moment. "You know, humanity is far too flawed and chaotic, not perfect and orderly like my robots. I would be doing them all a favor by taking over their miserable planet, and ruling the earth, myself!"

The mad scientist had given up on what little concern he had for his fellow humans- Even Agent Stone, who had worshiped the ground the doctor walked on. Stone had probably forgotten about him by now, and was probably fanboying over some other recluse genius. No matter, he thought to himself, he would simply build a new group of robot friends; perhaps a few badniks with goofy personalities he could order around.

"I think I'll start by sending over a few badniks to Green Hills, to greet the hedgehog warmly." The doctor smiled. Reaching into his flight suit pocket, he pulled out the blue quill he had gotten from Sonic. "This little quill may have lost its infinite charge of energy, but I can still use it to create the ultimate badnik!" The doctor clenched the quill in his fist. "Very soon, Sonic will face his worst enemy... his own dark refection!"

Robotink's laughter- along with his cheesy and clichéd dialogue- echoed throughout the halls of his citadel.


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter One: The Arrival  
**

_**Green Hills, Montana; six months after Dr. Robotnik's defeat**_

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!-click!

The sound of the alarm clock shattered the peace and quiet of Sonic's room, waking the blue blur from his restful slumber. In half a second the hedgehog's gloved hand shot out, tapping the button as he pulled off the covers. Leaping up out of bed, Sonic became a blue whirlwind spinning around the room; brushing his teeth, combing his quills, and slipping on his shoes. Racing down the stairs, the blue blur bounded into the kitchen, yelling out an excited greeting.

"Good morning, Green Hills!" He exclaimed, running around the house's lower floor after he couldn't find anybody. "Pretzel Lady? Doughnut Lord? Where are you guys?"

Sonic stopped in the middle of the house, confused for a moment, before slapping his forehead with his palm.

"Oh yeah, that's right! They are on vacation in Hawaii, duh!" He smiled. "That means I have the whole house to myself for two whole weeks!"

Racing over to the fridge, he grabbed out a cherry coke, and two of the cheese chili dogs that Maddie had left for him. Zapping them in the microwave for just under a minute, the blue blur gulped both dogs and the cola down in a single gulp.

"Burrrrp!"

Letting out a quick belch, Sonic then rushed around to complete a few chores around the house, before racing out into the open streets of Green Hills. Racing around through the roads and main alleyways of this small town, waving and saying hi to each and every inhabitant of the small town.

"Hi Bob!" Sonic called out to a man in shorts mowing his lawn "How are ya doing?"

"Hey Sonic!" The man called back, smiling at the hedgehog. "How's the running today?"

"Yo, Nancy!" Sonic yelled, greeting a gardener working in her greenhouse. "How's that green thumb today?"

"Hiya, Sonic!" Nancy replied, looking up from her watering can. "Why don't you stop for a moment, and smell the flowers?"

The blue blur raced through all the streets, greeting every citizen who was out and about that fine morning. Sonic, who had been cut off and lonely from anyone else for the past ten years, was happy to finally be accepted and appreciated. Sonic was the best-kept secret of the town that everyone knew about, with even the government looking the other way when it came to the little hero. That gave sonic the freedom to run through the town and it's surrounding areas- though sometimes did wish he could explore the larger world outside of Montana.

As he raced through the farm fields outside of town, he was surprised to see a familiar bearded figure on his farm, setting traps.

"Hey, Crazy Carl!" The spiky blue hedgehog called out, stopping in front of the old coot. "What're you setting traps for this time, raccoons?"

"Oh, hello blue devil!" The old man of questionable sanity replied. "I was just setting traps for the magic two-tailed fox I saw on my farm the other day!"

"Two tailed fox?!" The blue blur asked in shock. From anyone else, Sonic would have thought this was crazy talk, but Carl had been the first person in town to notice _him,_ as well. "Carl, what did this fox... look like?"

"It was a little orange feller, about half your size, with two big tails with white tips on em'!" Crazy Carl replied, setting a bear trap on the ground. "He had shoes an' gloves just like you do, and I heard him talking out loud a few times, so I thought he might be one 'o your kind."

"A walking, talking fox, huh?" Sonic thought for a moment. In his speed reading every book in the Green Hills library, the hedgehog remembered reading something about the kitsune, the magical two-tailed fox from Japanese myth. But given the way Carl described him as anthropomorphic and wearing shoes, Sonic more believed it was someone from his home world.

"Thanks Carl, I'll catch ya later... or maybe you'll catch me later!" Sonic laughed, racing on down the road.

"Farewell, blue devil!" Crazy Carl yelled after him. "And please don't warn your little friends about my traps!"

Sonic ran into the nearby forest, a hundred thoughts going through his mind. Who was this new visitor? Why had this two-tailed fox come to earth? Was he looking for him? Could Longclaw have sent him? That would mean... his old mentor was still alive! Or had the fox come to steal his powers, just as the echidna tribe had tried to do? The only thing Sonic knew for certain, was that he had to find this kitsune-like creature.

The blue blur raced all through the woods surrounding town, searching for any trace of this new arrival. Finally, as he was passing by Hill Top road, Sonic heard a young voice cry out;

"Help, somebody please help me!"

Racing towards the sound of the plaintive cry, Sonic found the two tailed fox standing in a clearing, surrounded on all sides by four menacing-looking robot ladybugs, each on one wheel. The frightened, blue-eyed fox looked to be about ten or twelve years old, and appeared helpless before these four robots.

"Hey, you one-wheeled tin cans!" Sonic called out, leaping into the clearing in front of the fox. Get away from that kid!"

"Oh my gosh, you're HIM!" The wide-eyed male fox yelled in surprise. "The blue hedgehog, the one I was looking for!"

But as sonic looked back to say something, one of the motobugs fired a laser blast, knocking both anthros off of their feet. As the blue blur hit the dirt, another motobug, zipped over towards him, slamming into sonic and sending him rolling across the ground.

This fight had started badly for the blue blur, as the badniks had caught him by surprise. His super-speed only functioned either when he concentrated, or by reflex. The rest of the time, Sonic blur moved at the same speed as everyone else. So the motobugs had managed to catch him by surprise.

As the dazed sonic tried to stand up again, two of the motobugs fired missiles at the vulnerable hedgehog. It was at that moment, that the little fox jumped over grabbed sonic... and took off into the air, flying as he spun his two tails like a pair of helicopter rotors.

"Holy moley!" Sonic exclaimed, as the fox held him dangling by his hands. "Dude, you can fly?"

"Don't worry about that now!" The fox exclaimed, looking down at the confused mototbugs. "we gotta take those bad bots out!"

"Don't worry about it!" Sonic grinned. "Just throw me at em', and I'll do the rest!"

Skeptical, the small fox tossed the blue blur at the badniks. Sonic then curled up into a ball, and spin dashed into the motobugs, bouncing on each one and smashing them one by one. The blue blur stood amidst the four piles of scrap, as the little fox stared on in amazed.

"You all right, little guy?" Sonic asked, looking back at the diminutive anthro. "Those bad bugs didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Wow, that was so amazing!" The two tailed vulpine exclaimed, starry eyed. "You were so cool out there, against those robots!"

"Heh, I was _way_ past cool, out there, little guy." Sonic replied smugly, trying to act all cool and smooth over the first person to ever fanboy over him. "Say, that was a neat trick you did out there 'Tails'. I didn't even know foxes could fly!"

"Oh, most can't fly. It's just me." The fox replied, ignoring the nickname Sonic had just given him. "And my name's Miles Prower, I came to this world from Westside Island, looking for you."

"Westide? Then you did come here from home!" The blue blur grinned, giving him a thumbs up. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and I'm from South Island. And it looks like you've found me!"

But as the two anthros talked, a small bat-like badnik sat silently in a tree above them. The Batbrain watched Sonic and Miles with camera eyes, feeding the image back to Dr. Robotnik in the metropolis zone.

"Hmmm, interesting. I had not anticipated the intervention of this 'Tails' creature, as Sonic calls him. I will have to watch this further." He adjusted his tiny sunglasses. "And it looks like the charge I gave each of those motobugs from the green chaos emerald didn't last long. I'll have to find a more permanent, portable power source."

Just then, the mad scientist noticed several small birds and squirrels moving around in the tree next to his robotic spy, and an evil smile began to spread across Dr. Robotnik's face.

"Hmmm, I do believe I have just found a solution to my little power problem..."


	3. Chapter 3

** Chapter Two: The Conversation  
**

After the small skirmish had concluded, Miles began looking over the remains of the four badniks.

"Wow, these are really advanced robots, even if they do look a little silly in design." The vulpine anthro noted, pulling out his scanner to examine the scrap piles. "Whoever built these must be really, really intelligent... but also really, really eccentric."

"There's only one creep who would make something like these things, and only one genius creep who would want to attack me." Sonic clenched his fist. "Eggman."

"Well, who this 'Eggman' is, he sure makes a mean robot." Miles replied, gathering the pieces of badnik scrap. "I could learn a thing or two from studying these spare parts."

"Huh, you seem to know a lot about tech." Sonic noted, as the fox loaded the scrap into his side pack. "Are you a science guy, too?"

"Yep. My dad, Kilo Prower, was the greatest scientist on all of mobius!" Miles replied proudly. "He taught me everything I know!"

"Kilo Prower? The inventor of the warp rings? Longclaw told me about him." The mention of a parent reminded Sonic of something. "Tails, you said you were here looking for me. Did Longclaw send you to find me?"

"Longclaw? The last of the owl warriors, the one who raised you?" Tails asked, confused. Then his face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sonic. I heard Longclaw was killed by the Echidna tribe. She sacrificed herself, to protect the portal that let you escape to earth. I thought you knew..."

The blue blur was silent for a moment, before shaking his head. "It's okay, Tails. I kind of figured she had died a long time ago. It's just your arrival game me a little hope." Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Wait, so if Longclaw didn't send you, why are you here?"

"I'd be happy to tell you that but I think we'd better talk someplace safe first." Miles looked around nervously. "Do you have someplace we could go?"

"Sure, let's head back to the place I'm staying." Sonic nodded, smiling. "I'll heat us up some chili dogs, and we can have a chat."

...

Sonic and Miles were soon seated at the table in doughnut lord and pretzel lady's house, eating chili dogs and sipping root beer. Tails then opened up and began to tell his story.

"As I already told you, Kilo Prower- my dad- was one of the greatest minds on all of Mobius. He created many wonderful inventions, and studied many ancient texts and ruins, in order to try to replicate the wonders of the past." The vulpine explained. "But even he was amazed when I was born with two tails, and so he tried to discover why I was so... different."

"Kind of like how I was mysteriously born with Super Speed. Apparently, I used to crawl across the floor so fast, nobody could keep up with me. " Sonic replied, remembering what Longclaw had told him when he was a child. "That's why my parents- Paulie and Aleena Hedgehog- gave me up to Longclaw to raise. Not only was I hard to manage as a baby, but bad guys keep trying to kidnap me."

"My parents decided to raise me themselves, but they had the same bad guy-kidnap problem." Miles agreed. "But they managed to keep me under control. Dad figured out how to teach me to fly, and taught me all about working on tech. He and mom told me I had special power, and it was my job to use that power to save people, and protect all of Mobius."

"Sounds like an awesome set of parents." Sonic added, downing another chili dog. "So... what happened to them?"

"We were at our home in the forest one day... when some really nasty guys called the Battle Bird Armada came looking for us." The fox closed his eyes. "I guess they came looking for me and my 'powers', and dad's tech designs and plans. I... I managed to get away. But mom and dad..."

The little fox began to tear up, and Sonic put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, pal. That's a really hard thing to go through." The blue blur shook his head. "But I can totally relate. The echidna tribe destroyed by childhood, too."

"I-it's okay, Sonic. I've learned to deal with it." Tails wiped his tears away with his glove. "Anyway, I managed to run away with my dad's journal, and I learned about you from his notes- dad had taken an interest in your mysterious powers, because I had developed powers, too. So, I used a ring to come here to Green Hills, so I could find you."

"So, you've been here, looking for me for the past few days?" Sonic asked in confusion. "I guess you weren't able to find me right away, then."

"Actually, I used the scanner I built to track you here to Green Hills, so I knew exactly where you were." Tails explained. "I just couldn't approach you, because there were always humans nearby." He looked down and the ground. "And... I was kind of shy. You just looked so cool, running around, doing whatever you wanted. I didn't know how to approach you."

"Awww, that's no good. I'm a really easy guy to approach." Sonic chuckled. "But that still doesn't explain why you sought me out. Were you looking for to be pals with someone like yourself?" The blue blur could relate to that, having been alone most of his life. "Don't worry man, you'll learn to love it here on earth."

Well, there was that, but also..." Miles let out a sigh, finally getting to the point. "... I need your help, I want your assistance in finding the Chaos Emeralds."

"Wait, the chaos emeralds?" Sonic asked in shock. "Why on earth would you want to find them?"

The blue blur had heard of the mystical gemstones before. When he was little, Longclaw had told him the stories of the mighty Chaos emeralds, seven multicolored stones with infinite amounts of power in each one. The legends say that the stones were forged in the big bang that created the universe, and were filled with the energies of creation itself. The legends also said the stones could turn someones thoughts into power, and anyone who possessed all seven emeralds with shine with an invincible power! Sonic never would have believed such stories, had his owl guardian not insisted they were true.

"Sonic, Mobius is threatened by a lot of enemies- the echidna tribe, the battle birds, Wendy Witchkart and her gang, and now maybe even this 'Eggman' of yours. Any one of them would love to get their hands on all seven emeralds, and use their power to conquer all the worlds." Tails stood up, and walked over to the window, looking out at the stars. "My dad believed the emeralds _want_ us to find them, before the bad guys do

"Now hold on... Kilo thought the emeralds were sentient?" Sonic asked incredulously. "How exactly does that work?"

"My dad theorized that before we were born, the Chaos emeralds chose the two of us to protect them, and keep them out of evil hands." Miles explained. "that why the emeralds gave us both their power; you were born with super-speed, and I was born with my two tails, and the ability to fly."

"So...so that's why I got can go so fast." Sonic stuttered, as Miles's words sunk in. "That's the reason I was taken from my family, watched my mentor die, and was chased from my homeworld and had to hide for all those years?"

"Yes." Miles replied simply, looking back at him. "That why the other little kids on Westside island made fun of me fun of me for my two tails. It's why they called me a freak. It's why they broke my inventions. That why the battle birds took my parents, and that's why we both suffered."

Standing up, he wandered over to the large picture window where tails was already standing. They both stood there is silence for several nearly a half an hour, before sonic finally spoke up.

"When I was little, Longclaw told me to never let anyone take my powers, and she told me to never stop running." Sonic looked over at the little fox. "But now, I want to run to keep my friends safe. If any of those villains were to find the seven emeralds, the earth... my home... is screwed."

"Then...you'll help me?" Miles exclaimed, nearly jumping up and down with excitement. "All right!"

"Okay, okay, calm down." sonic laughed, as the two walked back over to the table. "So, where do you think we can find the emeralds?"

"Okay, my dad spent the last several years mapping out where he believes they are hidden." Miles opened up a map on the table, pointing to several locations. "We're going to have to go to several zones on mobius, from the Marble ruins to Casino Night. We should be able to get to each one with our combined collection of warp wings."

"Sounds like fun. It'll be great to see home again, after all these years." Sonic looked over the map. "We can come back here to rest after each trip, and get ready for our next mission."

"That would be so amazing!" tails nodded eagerly. "And we have some help along the way, as well. Right before I left mobius, I heard rumors of another hedgehog who might have been chosen- a female one, with a giant hammer and some kind of mystic powers. I've heard she might be looking for the emeralds, too."

"Ohhh, a hammer? Sounds like my kind of girl!" Sonic joked, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, we should get some sleep tonight, we can leave for our first mission in the morning. You can crash on the couch. He waved Miles off, heading up the stairs to his attic 'cave'. "Good night, kid."

But as the two mobians headed off to bed, they both failed to notice the batbrain badnik who had been watching and listening from the window. Back in the Metropolis Zone, a certain mad scientist stroked his mustache as he contemplated everything he had just heard.

"So, going after the chaos emeralds, are they?" Robotnik laughed. "Well then, I'll just have to make sure my badniks in each zone to roll out the welcome mat... as well as getting each emerald first!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: enter the emerald hill  
**

The very next morning, Sonic and Miles headed out into the back yard after a hearty breakfast, and prepared for their first adventure. The fox reached into his bag, and threw a warp ring into the air. As the ring expanded into a full portal, tails turned towards his new friend.

"Well, this is it." The fox took a deep breath. "Are you ready for this?"

"You got it, little buddy." The blue blur smiled, giving Miles a thumbs up. "Let's do it to it!"

"Wow, that was really corny." Miles cocked an eyebrow at him. "Where do you get those cheesy lines?"

"Sorry," The blue blur shrugged. "I've watched too many 90's movies and cartoons, I guess."

The fox rolled his eyes, and the two jumped into the portal together.

There was a flash of light, and Sonic found himself in familiar surroundings. A green gassy pathway, spiraling loops and tropical trees. Sonic felt a wave of sad nostalgia as Sonic gazed upon a landscape he hadn't seen in years."

"I don't believe it..." The hedgehog muttered, trying to keep his eyes from tearing up. "I'm home."

"The Emerald Hill zone... " Miles said, looking at the data on his tracking/data device. "A place of loops and spirals, much like your native South Island. This was as close as we could portal to the emerald's location, due to Mobius's erratic atmosphere."

"Yeah, there's only certain random spots on the planet you can warp to and from, I know." Looking ahead, Sonic saw several metallic shapes moving around on the path ahead of them "Uh oh, I don't think we're the only ones looking for the emerald..."

"Eggman's robots!They're here already!" The fox exclaimed, noticing the badniks swarming all over Emerald Hill. "Eggman must have found away to replicate the ring portals, and got his troops here before we did!"

"Well, we smashed those metal bugs back on earth, we can smash these uglies, too!" Sonic took a running stance. "Now, use your spin dash, just like I showed you last night, and try and keep up!"

The two mobians took off, sonic racing along the ground, and Miles soaring through the air. The hedgehog raced through the loops, bounced off bumpers, and jumped across gaps as he ran along the track. The bumpers and springs had been placed along these paths by mobian engineers to help their species to travel quickly, and Sonic reveled in being able to move so swiftly once more. Earth was such a flat and narrow place to travel by comparison, with obstacles to an open run everywhere. But here on his homeworld, Sonic was free to bounce, move, and spin to his hearts content, unhindered by earth's more simplistic landscape.

As Sonic came upon the badniks, he saw several snail-like robots crawling along the ground, and on the trees. Trying to avoid the shots coming out of their back shells, the blue blur smashed a dozen of the snail blasters open, and saw several terrified small animals pop out of their smashed remains.

"Hey Tails, there's little critters jumping out of these broken robots!" Sonic yelled up at the flying fox in surprise. "What the heck is going on?"

"Eggman is using small animals to power his robots!" Miles yelled back in horror, looking at his scanner. "Be careful breaking them open, make sure you don't hurt the creatures inside!"

Several buzz bombers dove at the two-tailed fox, firing lasers from their stingers. The two-tailed fox bobbed and weaved through the shots, destroying several of the bee badniks, and releasing several trapped birds into the air. But the last buzz bomber finally got a hit on one of Miles's tails, sending him tumbling out of the air.

"Help, Sonic!" The fox called out. "I'm falling!"

"Hang on, little buddy!" The blue blur replied. Jumping on a spring, he leapt into the air, catching Miles before he hit the ground. "I gotcha!"

"Thanks, Sonic!" The fox replied gratefully, as Sonic touched down again. "You saved my life up there!"

"No problem, pal!" Sonic set him down, after making sure he wasn't hurt. "Now stick close to me, and let's wreck these robots!"

The two mobians raced ahead, smashing snail blasters and buzz bombers as they went. Miles stayed not too far behind sonic, using his twin tails as a propeller to keep up. As they ran across a long wooden bridge, several mechanical fish leapt out of the water, taking them both by surprise.

"Sonic, look out!" Miles yelled, as the chompers just at them. "We're under attack!"

"Ahh!" Sonic exclaimed. "It's a feeding frenzy!"

The chompers bit as both mobians, trying to take a bite out of their flesh. The two quickly curled up into balls, and spin dashed off the bridge to safety.

"Man, I can't take much more of this!" Sonic gasped out, as he and Miles both tried to catch their breath. "How much farther to the emerald?"

"According to my scanner, it's just ahead." Upon hearing that, Sonic grabbed Miles's hand, and raced to a crater that was just ahead. "But, I think somebody already beat us to it."

There, in the middle of the freshly dug crater, several digging robots- blue construction robots on tank treads with drill noses, called burrobots- had already dug down to the spot the emerald was at. One of the burrobots picked up the shiny rock, then made a noise and pointed as he saw the two mobians.

"Uh oh, looks like we've been spotted!" Sonic exclaimed. "Well, it looks like there are only twenty of them in that pit, so it should be a fair fight!"

"Uhhh, Sonic?" Miles whimpered as he looked behind them. "I think we got more company!"

About twenty more snail blasters rolled up to the edge of the pit, trapping Sonic and Miles between them and the burrobots.

"We're trapped!" The blue blur yelled, grabbing the fox's arm, and diving into the pit. "Only one way to go!"

Wait, what are you doing?!" Miles cried out in terror. "SONIC!"

The snail blasters followed them into the crater, shooting lasers from the cannons on their backs. The whole pit erupted into a battle free-for-all; lasers firing in every direction, burrobots attacking with their drills, Sonic and Miles spin dashing left and right. The battle was so fierce, a mighty dust cloud was kicked up from the pit. The sound of laser fire, drilling and yelling mobians filled the air for nearly ten minutes, until all the noise finally began to die down. As the dust cloud finally cleared, the sight of a beat-up and scarred fox and hedgehog emerged from the pit, as small animals scattered in every direction.

"Well now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Sonic quipped, clutching the blue emerald.

"Grrrrr..."Miles just groaned, glaring at him.

"No sense of humor, huh? Okay, I'll admit that was kinda hard." He sighed, looking at the gemstone in his had. "So this is a chaos emerald, huh? I can feel the energy inside this thing... feels kinds like electricity!"

"All the emeralds are powerful, but they are quite dangerous, as well." Miles replied, taking the emerald from Sonic. "That is why the ancients scattered them, burying them in different zones all over the world, like this one."

"Well then, it's up to us to find them all, before Eggman does!" Sonic threw a warp ring into the air, and the two beaten and bruised mobians walked back through the portal. "But come on, lets head back home and rest up, Miles."

"Actually, Sonic..." The two tailed fox replied, a small smirk on his face. "You can just calls me Tails."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4- montage**

Following their hard-won victory, the pair went home to rest and celebrate the capture of their first chaos emerald. This was done with large amounts of Chili dogs and root beer, accompanied by a marathon of Vin Diesel and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Tails, who had never been exposed to earth culture before, of course had a million comments and questions.

"That Vin Diesel guy... he sure likes using guns a lot." The fox commented. "Why doesn't he just spin dash the bad guy?"

"Humans can't do that move, Tails." Sonic replied, reaching into their shared tub of buttered popcorn. "Heck, most mobians can't do that, either."

Over the next several days, the two-tailed fox tried to adjust to living on earth. Tails was confused by what Tom's pet golden retriever was doing in the house.

"Sonic, why do the humans keep this unintelligent domesticated canine in the house?" The fox asked, as he and Ozzy stared at each other. "Are they raising it for food?"

"He's a pet, Tails." Sonic explained, shaking his head. "Doughnut lord keeps him as a companion."

"Oh, like we keep chao as pets?" The fox asked, petting the dog as it began licking him.

"Er... something like that." The blue blur shrugged.

The people in town quickly came to accept the little fox as a friend of Sonic's, and were happy to have them around. The mechanics at the local auto garage welcomed his help fixing cars, while the appliance store employees loved having him repair all of their broken gadgets. Tails even managed to make friends with Crazy Carl, who often spent a lot of time with the mobian talking about his crazy conspiracy theories.

"I'm so happy we became friends, instead of me catching you!" Crazy Carl exclaimed, as the two sat on the steps of his farmhouse. "So, you and your blue devil friend... do you fly around on your home planet in your space ships?"

"Nahhh, we prefer using extreme gear." Tails replied, smiling. "Hover technology is so much more efficient than any spaceship."

Carl liked his new little vulpine friend so much, he showed him a rusty old biplane, covered up in his barn with a tarp.

"This old girl is called the Tornado, and she dates back to the great war." Crazy Carl explained, as the fox stared at the old rust bucket in wonder. "My pa bought it used yeas ago, to dust crops in the fields."

"She's beautiful!" Tails whispered in awe. "I would love to fix this old girl up, and make her new again!"

"You like to tinker, just like my old man, eh?" Crazy Carl burst out laughing. "If you can get her working again, lad, she's all yours!"

At the same time, Sonic and Tails were going back and forth mobius, searching the zones for more of the Chaos emeralds. In the dingy old iron and steel factories of the Springyard zone, the pair of mobians avoided the claws of crabmeat badniks. Among the crumbling ancient ruins of the marble zone, Sonic and Tails battled leaping Caterkillers, avoided subterranean lava waterfalls, and dodged the falling spiked chain traps the ancients set to guard their tombs. And in the shifting deserts of sand ocean zone, the duo spilled and slid on the oil past the seahorse-like aquis and octopus-like octus badniks. Sometimes Sonic and Tails reached the emerald the badniks got to it, other times Eggman's robots reached the emerald first, and attained victory. It wasn't long before the mobians had recovered two of the gems, while Dr. Ivo Robotnik had obtained three. But even though he was ahead in the game, the mad scientist wasn't happy.

"GAHHHHH! This is infuriating!" Dr. Robotnik raged, slamming his fist into the computer monitor. "How did that hedgehog manage to get two of those chaos emeralds! I can't believe those two impudent fools managed to defeat my army of beloved badniks!"

Pacing the room, Ivo began to contemplate how to best defeat the hegehog and his two- tailed friend. Ivo had managed to stay ahead of the two mobians, because his batbrain spy had captured and image of Tails's chaos emerald map. Looking down at the image on his view screen, the mad scientist noted the next chaos emerald was in a location a little off the beaten path.

"Hmmm, according to this, the yellow emerald isn't on the world itself." The doctor thought aloud, continuing his insane habit of talking to himself. "Rather, it appears the gem is on a small moon that orbits mobius, called the little planet." Ivo sat down in his control chair again. "If I could set a trap for those two fools, I could be rid of them once and for all"

The mad doctor contemplated for a moment, debating his strategy. This would be a perfect opportunity to test out those new 'thinking' badniks he had finally finished. True, he had programmed the first three prototypes with the personalities and low intelligence of goofy cartoon characters, but that was only to prevent them from rebelling against him.

"Scratch! Grounder! Coconuts!" Robotnik called out over the intercom. "Get your sorry metal behinds to the command center, at once!"

The mad scientist heard the clatter of metal legs and treads running out in the hallways, followed by a clanging against the metal door to the room. The robotic trio -a robotic monkey, robotic chicken, and a blue burrobot- stumbled into the room.

"Yes, your rottenness?" Scratch , the chicken badnik, clucked. "What are your orders?"

"Shut up, you nincombots!" Robotnik snarled. "I want you three to go to the little planet, and set a trap for that useless hedgehog, and his little two-tailed friend."

"Ohhh, ohhh, we can do that, boss!" Coconuts the robot monkey exclaimed, jumping around gleefully. "Wil we get a promotion for doin' this?"

"I will decide if you get a prrrrmotion, you mangy piles of scrap!" Robotnik yelled at them. "Now, take a squad of bakirys and orbinauts, and get going!"

"Duuuh, youse got it, boss!" Grounder, the modified burrobot, saluted. "We'll have that hedgehog, and be back by morning!"

As the three idiots left, Dr. Robotnik turned back to face the monitor, chuckling to himself over his own genius. To and outsider, it would seem the doctor was acting like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, complete with childish robots and corny clichéd plots and schemes. But with Robotnik shattered mind and full blown insanity, a Saturday morning cartoon villain is exactly what he had become; monologuing, yelling at his stupid underlings, and declaring how evil he was-it had all become a part of the once-brilliant roboticist's shattered psyche.

A few days later, a large ring portals opened over the Palmtree Panic zone, dropping a squad of Badniks and the trio idiot-bots onto the track leading towards the Emerald. As the badniks all took their places to prepare for Sonic and Tails, they failed to notice they were being watched from a nearby hill. This observer had been expecting the robots' arrival, and it had been easy to avoid the badniks. But it wasn't the robots she had been waiting for; rather, it was one of the duo would come after them.

She was a pink female hedgehog, with combed back quills, a red hair beret, and dressed in a green blouse, yellow skirt, and blue and white shoes. Looking down at her tarot cards, she noted how all the signs were pointing towards everything from her vision was coming to pass, and her destiny was at hand. Her deep green eyes scanned the horizon, looking for the next ring portal that would open over the Palmtree panic Zone.

The female hedgehog had been born with a very small amount of mystical abilities, a talent her mother, the shaman of her small village had trained her to use from an early age. She had learned to read the cards, and follow her feelings and instincts, as well as how to interpret the occasional vision she received. Her father, the villages the greatest warrior, had taught her how to defend herself, wielding the dreaded piko-piko hammer. But her happiness had come to an end a few mere months ago, when, a trio of mercenaries- a fanged weasel with a gun, a silent but powerful polar bear, and an insane duck with a fetish for explosives- and burned her village down over a payment dispute. The pink hedgehog had been away when the tragedy occurred, and so had been left to mourn her loss alone.

But now, her tarot readings told her she would no longer be alone! According to her vision, a blue spiky hedgehog would soon come here to fight the robots, and meeting him would change her life, forever. After foreseeing these events, she had spread rumors about a hedgehog matching her description looking for the chaos emeralds, so she could lure the blue one out. But now, according to the cards, events were falling into place, that would bring the other hedgehog and his fox companion here, and then she can fulfill her destiny; to help this speedy champion to save all of Mobius!

Seeing another ring portal open overhead, the female hedgehog realizes her time has finally come. Putting her tarot cards away in a pocket, she reached down and picked up her large piko-piko hammer, before walking down the nearby path, towards her chosen future...


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5- Trapped!  
**

Sonic and Tails popped out of an open warp ring, touching down on the grassy surface of the little planet. The two mobians took off down the track of Palm Tree panic, with Tails flying after Sonic, as they raced forward.

"So this is the little planet, huh?" Sonic asked, looking around at the beautiful scenery. "I remember seeing this place hanging in the sky from South island when I was a child."

"The little planet is unique as a moon, in that it orbits inside mobius's atmosphere." Tails explained. "Until the development of warp rings, the only way to reach it's surface was by extreme gear, or when the little planet comes close to mobius once a year over never lake."

As the took looked around at their peaceful and tranquil surroundings, an uncertain dread began to grow in both of them.

"Uhhhh, Tails?" Sonic asked, looking over his shoulder. "Doesn't everything seen a little too quiet to you?"

"Yeah, I noticed that." The two-tailed fox agreed. "There aren't any of Eggman's robots anywhere, it's actually really creepy."

"It is kinda weird." Sonic shivered. "Maybe we got here before eggman?"

"I don't know... maybe." Tails pulled out his tracker. "Anyway, I seem to be picking up the chaos Emerald's signal from the cavern ahead."

The two mobians went through several loops, and came to a large cave entrance. Sonic and tails peered into the darkness, unable to see or hear anything from the inside.

"Whoah, what is this place?" Sonic asked, looking over to his friend. "It looks like something out of a bad horror flick."

"This is the Quartz Quadrant zone mine, the darkest and creepiest place on the little planet." Tails replied, looking at his scanner. "And the emerald's signal is coming from inside."

Tails pulled out a flashlight, and the two slowly made their way inside. Huge quartz crystal chunks were sticking out of the floor and ceiling, with water dripping off of the crystal stalagmites. The steady and constant trickle was the only sound that permeated the cavern's darkness. Sonic noticed several mine carts, tracks, and mining equipment scattered throughout the cavern.

"What, was somebody digging for something down here?" Sonic asked, picking up a pickax and inspecting it. "Looks like there were some very busy miners in this cave."

"A mining firm came up here from mobius, to dig for the quartz gemstones buried here. We are really lucky the mobian miners never found the chaos emerald down here." Tail's ears immediately perked up. "Wait, did you hear something? "I don't think we're alone down here-"

He had barely finished his sentence, when something knocked the flashlight from his hand. Everything suddenly went dark, and the cavern with filled with the sounds of grunting and struggling. When the lights came back on, and the pair of mobians were all tied up, and surrounded by a swarm of spiny urchin-like badniks called orbinauts.

"Aww maaan!" Sonic groaned, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe they got us!"

"I can't believe they managed to set a trap for us." Tails replied, trying to struggle against the ropes. "Eggman's robots have never been this intelligent before."

Then, a trio of comical-looking robots came out of the shadows, and the two mobians didn't know wither to be worried or laugh."

"Well, well, well... looks like we got the hedgehog, and his little fox buddy." Grounder chuckled. "Duhhhh, looks like we outsmarted youse!"

"Yeeaaah! you got you good!" Scratch clucked triumphantly. "Ha-ha-ha-haaaa!"

"Ooooh, this is poifect!" Coconuts chuckled gleefully. "Dr. Robotnik will give us a promotion for sure!"

"Huh, so Eggman's real name is Robotnik." Tails replied thoughtfully, looking the trio up and down. "Though given his incompetence in creating robot A.I., I think a name as silly as Eggman suits him better."

"So Ro-butt-nik finally makes robots that can talk and think, and he ends up making the three stooges?" Sonic shook his head. "No wonder I was able to beat him so easily last time."

Hey, youse better stop making fun of da boss!" Coconuts growled angrily, poking a finger in Sonic's face. "Or he'll grind ya's in ta mince meat."

"Duuhh, yeah!" Grounder agreed. "Robotnik will put your lights out, once we take ya back to him!"

"And Robotnik will reward us for capturing you!" Scratch clucked again. We have you aaalll tied up, and there's noting you can do about it!"

"YABOOM!"

Suddeny, a large red piko-piko hammer swung in out of nowhere, destroying a dozen of orbanauts in a flurry of swings. The strange pink hedgehog wielding the hammer quickly ran over, and untied the surprised mobian duo.

"I don't know who you are, lady!" Sonic declared gratefully, as the pink girl untied him and tails. "But thanks!"

"My name is Amy Rose," The pink hedgehog replied, as she helped the blue blur up. "And it was destiny that we should meet here, hero."

"D-destiny?" Sonic asked, dumbfounded. The two hedgehogs stared into each others eyes for a moment, before Tails called out.

"Uhhhh, you guys?" The two-tailed fox warned them. "Right now... less romance, more fighting!"

"Hey, don't just float there, youse stupid urchins!" Coconuts yelled at the badniks. "Attack!"

The orbonauts shot several dozen spiked orbs at the mobian trio, which Amy swiftly deflected with her Piko-Piko hammer. Tails dashed around the room, smashing open the remaining badniks and freeing the animals. While Sonic grabbed the rope that had been used to restrain them, and tied of the trio of idiot badniks, before they could do anything.

"There, that ought to hold you guys for a while!" Sonic quipped, before thinking. "Oh great, I'm starting to sound as cliched as Eggman, ugh!"

"Sonic, I'm picking up several more robots on their way!" Tails exclaimed, reactivating his tracker. "We've got to get out of here!"

"Your fox friend is right, Sonic!" Amy Rose agreed. "I sense several more opponents approaching just outside this cave!"

Then what are we waiting for?" The blue blur exclaimed. "It's up... over... and gone!"

The trio exploded out of the cave, racing along the surface of little planet towards the spot where Tails could open a warp wring. Several bakirys, badniks that resembled bird-planes, zoomed towards the three mobians, firing missiles. Sonic and tails pulled ahead to avoid the shots, but Amy started to fall behind.

"Sonic, I'm not as fast as you!" Amy pleaded, gasping for air as she ran. "Please, help me!"

Zipping back, the blue blur quickly picked Amy Rose up in his arms, and raced ahead at top speed.

"Tails, I'll get her to the warp point!" Sonic yelled, zooming ahead. "You take care of those bird brains!"

The fox nodded, and he flew back towards the balkirys, avoiding their missiles, and spin dashing straight into the badnik flock. Tails bounced from robot to robot, smashing all of their pursuers, before flying back up to where Sonic was waiting.

"Thank you so much for saving us back there, Miss Rose." Sonic told her, as he set the pink hedgehog down. "We couldn't have gotten away from that trap without ya!"

"Ah, but you also saved _me_." The pink hedgehog pointed out. "So I guess that makes us even, right?"

"Sonic, if you're done flirting with your new girlfriend, I would really like for us to get out of here." Tails complained, throwing the ring up for the two of them to jump into. "We don't know how many more robots Eggman could send."

"Hey! She's not my girlfriend!" Sonic protested, looking over at Amy Rose Nervously. "We just met ten minutes ago!"

"Awww, you are sooooo adorable when you do that!" Amy giggled in a bubbly voice, as she gestured with her hand, and made her piko-piko hammer vanish. "Who knows what is in the cards for your future, Sonic? Only time will tell."

The trio jumped through the ring portal, returning to Doughnut Lord's backyard. Amy looked around, taking it her new surroundings.

"So this is earth, huh? I hope they have some good places to shop." Just then, Amy saw Ozzy approaching them, curious what all of the noise was. "Oh my word, what is that canine creature, it is so ADORABLE!" The pink hedgehog started to laugh, as the dog licked her face.

"By the way Amy," Tails asked, drawing her attention away from the dog how did you make your hammer disappear like that back on little planet."

"Why, magic, of course." Amy Rose replied, pulling the hammer out of nowhere again, and making it disappear. "The piko-piko was enchanted by our village mage to be summoned when needed, and disappear just as quickly."

"Bah, I don't believe in magic." Tails snorted, rolling his eyes. "It's all simple tricks, or science too advanced to understand."

"What don't be silly!" Amy retorted, annoyed. "Anyone can use magic- well, I could never cast spell, only do little psychic tricks myself- but there are some pretty powerful mages all over mobius!"

The two mobians glared at each other, and sonic groaned. "Oh, great, I can see you two are going to get along."

Well Sonic, we not only managed to bring home a pink hedgehog your age- another mouth to feed on Doughnut Lord and Pretzel Lady's dwindling food supply," Tails pointed out smugly. "But we also lost another chaos emerald, putting Eggman in the lead."

"You guys looking for this?" Amy Rose held up a chaos emerald, pulling it out of the pocket of her skirt. "I grabbed this from the crystal caves, right before those robots showed up."

"Hey, not bad!" Sonic smiled, as she handed him the emerald. "But how did you know this is what we were after."

"Well, I would tell you it was magic." She winked at Sonic, before pulling out her tarot deck, and walking out of the room. "But your little friend here doesn't believe in it."

"Magic my two Tails!" The fox yelled after her angrily, following her to continue the argument. "More like precognition powers, given to you by the chaos emeralds!"

Sonic watched his two new friends two leave the room, then shook his head, and smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter six: Connection**

After the mobian trio made their way back to earth, the three stupid badniks finally freed themselves from the ropes, and came slinking back into the Metropolis Zone. Needless to say, the mad scientist was not pleased to see them.

"You stupid dumbots!" Robotnik screamed. His face flushed red with anger. "How did you three manage to lose to three small furry animals?!"

"Duuuh, sorry boss!" Grounder apologized. "But that lady hedgehog took us by surprise!"

"Yeeaaahh, she freed Sonic and the fox!" Scratch added, shrugging his wings. "We had them all tied up, until she ruined everything!"

"Ohhh, just let us at that goil again, Dr. Robotnik!" Coconuts chirped. "We'll get em' next time, you bet!"

"You clowns aren't getting another shot at it!" The mad scientist yelled. "There is only one chaos emerald not yet found, and it's high time I implement my master plan!"

"Dr Robotnik pressed a button, and a doorway opened behind him in the command center. The scientist and the three robots entered the darkened room, and alight came on in the center. There, a large, clear glass tube stood in the very center of the room. Floating in the center of the cylinder, was a blue hedgehog-like badnik, with a large turbine located in the center of it's body. The robot bore an uncanny resemblance to the blue blur, except for its metallic body and cold, lifeless eyes.

"Hey, isn't that a robot voision of da hedgehog?" Coconuts asked, confused. "Boss, why did ya make a Sonic Badnik?"

"Acutally, I call him Metal Sonic." Robotnik replied, staring at his greatest creation. "And he is going to be my key to destroying that accursed hedgehog, once and for all!"

"Hey, destroying the hedgehog is _our _job!" Scratch whined. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"You three can take over scrubbing the Metropolis Zone's latrines!" The mad scientist declared sadistically, pointing towards the command center's restroom. "And you boys had better get started; I heard the chef bots are served Mexican for lunch, and you're going to have a hard time getting that out."

As the three thinking dumbots sulked away, Dr. Robotnik went back to the computer monitor, and activated a screen on the nearby wall. On the console, the mad scientist saw the construction badniks putting the finishing touches of a massive, two-mile (over three kilometer) long airship. Loaded with guns, missiles, and other deadly armaments, the huge airship was unlike anything any military on earth had ever seen.

"Excellent... my Wing Fortress is nearly finished, as well." The mad scientist crossed his arms. "First, i will use this wonderful machine to extract the final emerald, and then..." Robotnik smiled. "... it will be the weapon with which I shall conquer the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

...

The day after the debacle on the Little Planet, Sonic manged to sleep in late. The only thing that woke him up around noon was the sounds of moving and talking downstairs. Coming down the ladder from the attic, he smelled something being cooked on the stove top. Startled, the blue blur ran down the steps to the kitchen, only to find Amy Rose standing over a hot stove.

"Amy, what...what are you doing?" The hedgehog asked, dumbfounded. "What the heck are you making?!"

"I'm cooking you and Tails some pancakes and sausage for breakfast." Amy replied, flipping a flapjack in her skillet. "Eating all those chilidogs day after day can't be healthy for you two."

Annoyed, Sonic looked over at Tails, with a 'why didn't you do something to stop her' look.

"Hey, don't look at me." The fox merely shook his head, and shrugged. "She was already up cooking when I woke up, as well."

Sonic groaned, as he and Tails sat down to eat their breakfasts. Quickly finishing his meals in a few gulps, the blue blur stood up, and prepared for his daily afternoon run. But before Sonic could even make it to the door, Amy was already there, blocking his path.

"Ummm, Sonic? I was wondering if you could show me around Green Hills today." The pink hedgehog asked him, giving Sonic the big, starry eyes. ", Please? I just got here, and don't know where anything in town is yet! Could you please help a girl out?"

"But, I, umm... you, err..." The blue blur looked over at his fox friend. "Tails, help me out here!"

"Sorry, Sonic!" Tails shrugged, walking out the back door. "I'm going to work on the Tornado with Crazy Carl, see you later."

As the fox spun his tails and took off into the sky, The pair of hedgehogs headed out the front door, and began a whirlwind tour of the small Montana town.

...

Sonic was used to going fast, but Amy moved from thing to thing at a pace that even bewildered the blue blur. The first place she dragged Sonic was the local mall, where he found himself stuck outside a clothing store dressing room. Amy Rose plundered the women's clothing section of small sizes, and tried on everything she could find.

"Sonic, how do I look in this dress?"

"Oh, you look fine, Amy."

"Sonic, how do I look in this evening gown?"

*yawn* "Can we go to the arcade yet?"

"Sonic, how do I look in this bikini?"

"Uhhhhh..."

"Sonic, why is your face turning bright red?!"

After spending time in the clothing store (where all sonic found that interested him was a new pair of gloves), the two headed to the mall's SEGA arcade (at Sonic's insistence). The two hedgehogs first played a few rounds of Sega's _dance stage supernova_ arcade, where the pink mobian wasn't able to keep up with the blue blur's fast moves, but did get the steps right more often then Sonic did.

"Wow Amy, that's some pretty fancy footwork!" Sonic complimented her.

"It's nothing really, Sonic." She replied. "My abilities allow me to foresee what dance step comes next."

The two then blew three dozen quarters on Golden Axe, With Sonic Playing Axe battler, and Amy playing Tyris Flare. The two plowed through the armies of Death Adder, but the pink hedgehog had just one complaint;

"This is a great game and all, Sonic." Amy Rose noted. "But why does Tyris only wear a Bikini into battle? She could be easily stabbed like that!"

"Yeah, that is kinda dumb." Sonic replied absent-mindedly, mashing the buttons. "But it's still fun beating up Death Adder's goons!"

After finishing up at the arcade, they checked out the book store. Amy looked through the romance novels and books on the paranormal, while Sonic sped through all the comics, manga, and rpg gaming books like lightning.

"Wow Sonic, I didn't know you liked fantasy novels!" Amy told him, surprised. "I guess we do have one reading taste in common, after all."

"Eh, what can I say? I love reading the King Arthur legends, and the Arabian Nights!" Sonic Shrugged. " It would be awesome to be able to go through and live the adventures in those stories!"

After the clerk and warned them the bookstore wasn't a library, the two hedgehogs went to get an early supper from the food court (after sonic promised no chili dogs... or Olive Garden). They ended up getting about a dozen pizzas from the pizzeria- eleven of which sonic ate by himself, with Amy had half of the last one.

*BUUUUUUURP* Excuse me!" Sonic apologized. "Sorry I was such a pig!"

"Nahhhh, it's okay. I kind of figured you have to eat a lot of carbs to move so fast for so long." Amy Rose grinned. "*BURRRRRP!* Besides, I'm not exactly a polite little girl myself!"

The two of them laughed hysterically, finishing up their meals, and leaving the mall. With dusk fast approaching, Sonic took Amy Rose to a nearby park on a mountainside. The two sat on the swings together, as they watched the sun slowly begin to set.

"Wow, it's so beautiful up here." The pink hedgehog sighed. "It reminds me of my childhood back in hedgehog village on mobius. I used to set with my mother on the hill, and watch the sun set."

"You know, back before I met doughnut lord, when I was growing up on earth by myself... I used to come up here, and watched the sun set." The blue blur sighed. "It was the one time on this planet, that I didn't feel so alone."

"But you eventually met Doughnut Lord and Pretzel lady, and now you're no longer alone." Amy Rose said sadly, looking down. "Tails and I... we lost everything, and we didn't find a happy human family like you did. She began to swing slowly. "Once the hunt for the chaos emeralds are over, the two of us will go back to mobius, and we'll both be alone again."

"But you guys don't need to be alone anymore!" Sonic protested, jumping up off his swing. "You could stay here with me... with the family I've found! We could-"

"Sonic, earth is a nice place to visit, but... this isn't home, we don't belong here." She shook her head. "I want to help you defeat Dr. Eggman, to fulfill our destinies, but... I don't know if I want to spend the rest of my life away from mobius."

"Amy... listen to me." Sonic walked over to the swing she was sitting in. "Even after Dough- even after Tom and Maddie took me in, I always felt out of place. I care about them deeply, and they care deeply about me, I knew I was always going to be... different." lifting her chin up with his finger. "But meeting you and tails, going on adventures with both of you, getting to know you here... it feels like I'm not so different anymore... and it feels wonderful to have you both as my friends." Sonic looked into her eyes. "I swear to you, Amy... you will never be alone again."

The two slowly moved towards each other, their lips almost touching each other... before the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon. They both immediately pulled away sheepishly.

"Well, looks like the sun had finished setting." Sonic laughed nervously. "Maybe we should head back to the house now?"

"Yeah... I sense a frustrated young fox, angry and waiting for supper and tonight's Vin Diesel flick." Amy laughed. "And I'm usually good at predicting these things."

"You know, tails would say that was just coincidence." Sonic chuckled. "Her doesn't believe in things like magic, or psychic powers."

"Well, he's got a lot to learn about the world then, Sonic." Amy replied. "If there's one thing I've learned in my young life, it's that _anything_ is possible."

Sonic nodded, and the two friends slowly made their way home under the soft glow of the streetlights of Green Hill."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter seven: conversation**

While Sonic and Amy Rose were on their 'date', Tails and Crazy Carl spent the day working on the old bi-plane in Carl's rickety old barn. The two had been busy fixing, welding, and replacing parts on the Tornado, slowly restoring the ancient plane to its former glory. As the two worked on the plane, Tails complained, about what had been occurring recently.

"Man, I can't believe that Amy Rose, talking about her magical mumbo-jumbo." The fox groaned, tightening a bolt with a wrench. "And Sonic's way too goo-goo eyed over her to see how silly she is."

"Sonic's just in love, it's normal for a boy- er, hedgehog his age, I suppose." Crazy Carl replied, handing a screwdriver to Tails. "As to this Amy, her claiming everything is magic is just a way of looking at things. Didn't your ancestors on mobius declare everything new and strange they encountered to be magic? I believe in big foot, the Loch Ness monster, and UFO's, and people call me crazy for it."

"That's not right! The job of any scientist to examine any claim without bias, either for or against the fantastic claim. No one should just..."Tails stopped for a moment, then facepalmed. "Oh... that's exactly what I have been doing, isn't it?"

"There are people in this world who would laugh at the existence of you and your furry friends, or your chaos emeralds, but yet here you are." Crazy Carl shook his head."I think there are many fantastical things science can explain, rather than just dismiss them outright. But then again, I'm supposed to be crazy." Both of them had a laugh at that, before Crazy Carl continued; "Speaking of which, how is the hunt for that last Chaos emerald you are looking for going?"

"Well, Sonic told me he banished Eggman to the Mushroom Hill Zone, so I believe he found the emerald located there." The fox replied. "So far we haven't been able to locate the final emerald, because my dad didn't mark it on the map."

"Wait, what exactly is a 'zone'?" Carl asked, confused. "And where do you think the last emerald is located?"

"Oh, a 'zone' is a mobian term for a region or place on a planet separate from other places, our meaning of the word is similar to the earth-English language term. Also, a zone can be a province or state." Tails explained. "As to where the last emerald might be, I'm starting to suspect it might be located in the special zone, far away from any of the inhabited worlds."

"Uhhhh. not to sound like an idiot, but-" Carl asked sheepishly. "What exactly is the special zone?"

"Ohhh-kay, let me try to explain this." Tails replied. Looking up from his work under the Tornado's hood, and pulled out the galaxy map both he and Sonic had a copy of. "First, there are the six inhabited worlds; Mobius, the homeworld of all anthropomorphic animals like me. Next, there is the little planet, mobius's moon. Then there is the lost hex, the home of the evil zeti, and your own earth, the human race are from. There is Green Gate, homeworld of the plant-like seedarians, thoguh I don't know much about them." The two-tailed fox explained. "Most of the inhabitants of these planets get between the worlds via warp rings. But, there is a world between worlds... a gap between dimensions, that is the special zone."

"A space between spaces." Crazy Carl nodded, understanding. "like the phantom zone from fiction."

"Uh, something like that." Tails shrugged. "It is a strange dimension, really hard to get to, and influenced by the subconscious of all the sentient beings in universe. The special zone is filled with tilting mazes, psychedelic birds, circus-like obstacle courses, and lots and lots of blue spheres. If the last emerald is there, getting it is going to be like going through an obstacle course."

"Good grief... special zones, chaos emeralds..." Crazy Carl looked at Tails in wonder. "How did you mobians come about?"

"Ancient aliens, crazy evolution, a deity with a sense of humor... who knows?" Tails just shrugged. " The only important thing is we are here, and we have to each do our best."

"Well said, Tails!" Carl and tails finished up under the hood, and got out several buckets of paint to coat the plane. "I'm really glad we had the chance to become friends."

"Yeeeeaaah... I will admit, I was a little nervous when Sonic introduced me to you, and you were holding a chainsaw and a bear trap." The fox laughed. "But after you calmed down, I was really glad we've gotten to talk."

"Hey, I know I can come off as a little out of my mind. But that because people have never taken me seriously." Carl replied, dipping his brush into the paint. "Since I was younger, nobody ever took my ideas seriously, and everybody dismissed my ideas as a joke!"

"Oh, I can totally relate!" Tails agreed, swiping paint across the plane's nosecone. "People back home never took me seriously because I was so young, and they always seem surprised I was as smart as I am. But even when people find out how smart I am, they still treat me like a little kid."

"I will say, you do seem very smart for a child your age." Carl noted. "And you also seem more mature than a kid would be."

"When you're alone on Mobius, you learn to grow up really quickly." Tails replied, a weariness in his voice. "It can be very hard, being on your own."

"Ahhh, but you're not alone anymore, are you?" Carl pointed out. "You've made a really good friend with Sonic, haven't you?"

"Sonic is the best! I cant' believe how cool he looks and acts. I just sooooo much to be like him!" Tails replied excitedly, suddenly sounding his own age. "We talks to me, spends time with me... he's like the big brother I never had."

"I reckon Sonic might feel the same way, growing up here in Green Hills alone." Crazy Carl told him, suddenly sounding not so crazy. "The two of you should really talk about it, you both have more in common than you think."

The two continued working into the evening, talking about everything, and putting the finishing touches on the Tornado. Looking over their work with a great deal of satisfaction, before looking each other and nodding with satisfaction.

"Wow she looks really beautiful!" Tails beamed, running his hand along the side of the plane with dried paint. "We did a really good job on fixing her up real good!"

"Yeah, the Tornado looks like a beauty, but how will she run?" Crazy Carl looked the plane over. "What do you say we start her up, and take this plane into the air?"

Tails was about to nod in agreement, when he noticed the sun was setting outside the barn. "Sorry Carl, but I told Sonic and Amy I would meet them back at the house at dusk." He ran out of the barn, and took off into the sky in flight, Tails spinning. "I'll stop by tomorrow, and we can do the maiden flight! Bye bye!"

"Bye Tails!" The crazy conspiracy theorist called out, waving at the fox. "Stay safe, and don't let moth man catch you on the way home!"

...

As Tails was flying along, he noticed Sonic and Any walking up the road below him, lost in conversation.

"So you really could move so fast, that it was like time stopped around you?" Amy asked in surprise. "That's amazing! Why haven't you done that trick since we met?"

"Actually I can't really do it anymore." Sonic sighed. "Tails thinks it's because I burned off most of my excess energy in my first battle with Eggman. That's also why he thinks I don't spark with blue lightning or knock power out anymore- though he says my normal super speed is permanent, and shouldn't decrease at all." The blue blur looked up, and saw his flying friend. "Speaking of Tails, I thought you'd be home by now."

"Sorry, Carl and I got a little too much into our work." He landed beside the other two. "Now, why don't we head home, and have some more of Amy's yummy pancakes?"

"Hee hee, I didn't know you liked my cooking that much, tails." Amy giggled. "Just for that, you get an extra flapjack on your plate!"

As the three continued walking, they arrived back to the house. Just then, Sonic noticed the door had been forced, and the lights were on inside.

"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. "It looks like a burglar! What are we going to do?"

"He probably has a gun." Tails warned. "We should really be careful!"

"Nah, we can totally take him!" Sonic exclaimed, racing into the house. "There's no way I'm letting anyone rob doughnut lord and pretzel lady's home!"

The blue blur raced in, and tackled the intruder to the ground. The man, now terrified, was wearing a black government agent's suit, along with a black trench coat. He had a short beard, and dark hair and eyes.

"Please don't hurt me!" The strange man pleaded. "I'm just looking for Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"I'm Sonic! Now, what do you want?!" The blue blur growled. "Who sent you!? Was it Eggman?!"

"Please, my name is Julian 'Snively' Stone, and I need your help!" The man pleaded again. "I am a government agent, and I've been sent here to seek your aid in dealing with my former employer, Dr. Ivo Robotnik!"

"Robuttnik?" Sonic asked in surprise, letting go of Agent Stone. "He's come back to earth in person?"

"Yes, and he's a threat to the entire world!" The terrified man nicknamed 'Snively' replied. "Please Sonic, you've got to help us all!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter eight: invasion!**

Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Agent Stone were all standing in the house's living room, the three suspicious mobians staring the mysterious human intruder down. There were several minutes of total awkward silence as they glared at each other, before Sonic finally spoke up.

"Okay, so let me see if I get this straight..." The blue blur started, raising his hands. "You are a government agent, and your name is Julian Stone."

"Yes, that's right." Agent Stone replied. "Though my code name is Snively." He looked down. "Robotnik chose that code name for me."

"And you used to work for Eggman, before he went crazy?" Tails asked. "You were his personal assistant back then?"

"Yes, he worked for the government, too. Just as I did." Snively nodded remembering things he wished he didn't have to. "I thought he was a great genius, even though he treated me like crud. He seemed like such a brilliant intellect, who could solve all the world's problems with his science. I thought he was just alienated, misunderstood... and I blinded myself to just how twisted, psychotic, and dangerous that lunatic I idolized actually was." The government agent shook his head sadly. "That's not a bad nickname for him, by the way. 'Eggman', I wish I had thought of that when I was his lackey."

"But why did you come to Sonic for help?" Amy Rose asked. "Can't your government deal with him?"

"My superiors want Eggman to be dealt with discretely, without getting the public concerned." Snively explained. "Since Sonic had defeated Robotnik once before, they are asking that he step in and 'save the day' again."

"We're already involved in a conflict with Eggman." Sonic replied, crossing his arms. "But what is old 'Buttnik up to this time?"

" This time, the doctor's scheme has gone as high as the sky." The agent replied. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Pulling out a tablet, Snively brought up a satellite image of the skies over Easter Island. Suddenly, a large ring portal opened over the tranquil scene, and a massive yellow fortress of colossal size came through the gateway. An entire army of badniks began to swarm down onto the island, terrorizing tourists and islanders alike. The trio of mobians stared at the events unfolding on the screen in confusion.

"Wait, why would Eggman be interested in-" Sonic's eyes went wide, as realization dawned on him. "Oh no..."

"The last Chaos Emerald!" Tails exclaimed in horror. "It's here! On earth! Eggman must have discovered it somehow!"

"We've got to get to that island, and scramble that egg!" Amy Rose finished. "Agent Snively, can you get us to the island?"

"Unfortunately, none of our aircraft are able to approach the island." Snively sighed. "We can get the three of you close, but you will have to get up to Robotnik's air fortress yourselves." He gestured over towards Tails. "Which, considering one of you can fly, really shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't worry about us getting on his ship, agent Snively." Tails reassured him. "A friend of mine and I have been working on a little project, that should get us in right under Eggman's radar."

"Understood. I shall return to Washington, and make the necessary arrangements." Snively nodded, before looking back at the blue blur. "Sonic Hedgehog, Dr. Ivo Robotnik is one of the deadliest minds on this planet, especially with the arsenal our spy satellites have observed in his possession. We are counting on you to take this threat down, to stop whatever it is this power-mad lunatic. Please save the world from this menace, before it can grow to threaten the entire world."

Less than Twenty minutes later, the mobian trio was out on Crazy Carl's farm, pounding on the conspiracy theorist's door.

"Tails, what are you doing here at this late hour?" Carl asked, yawning. "Did something happen?"

"Carl, we've got a problem... Eggman's back." Tails told him bluntly. "We're going to need the Tornado to stop him."

"Say no more." Crazy Carl told them, grabbing his lantern. "Follow me."

The old coot led them out to the rickety old barn, opening the doors, as he and tails rolled out the rebuilt plane. The blue blur was in awe of the aircraft; it had been repainted a bright red body with white wings, with Sonic's name emblazoned along the side (Showing Tail's admiration for his friend), and a big red star bumper logo with wings painted on the tail fin.

"Whoa, Tails!" The blue blur exclaimed in amazement, hopping up to stand on top of the wings. "You did an amazing job on this thing, it looks awesome!"

"The plane does look incredible, Tails." Amy replied, looking the plane over. "But there is only two seats, where am I supposed to ride?"

"Don't worry, Amy! You can have the co-pilot's seat." Sonic called down to her. "I'll just ride up here, standing on the wings!"

"Well, that's certainly a way to break your neck, just so you can show off." Amy rolled her eyes, before looking back up at the blue blur. "Just... be careful up there, okay? Try not to be too reckless."

"No problem Amy." Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I'll be all right."

Tails and Amy Rose climbed into the seats, while pulled on the plane's propeller to start it up. The plane rolled forward, picking up speed as it used Carl's fields a plane took off into the Sky, heading west towards the pacific as Crazy Carl waved goodbye from the ground.

"Good luck, Tails! Hope all those upgrades and changes we made help out on your mission!" The old coot called out, even though there was no way the fox and his friends could possibly hear him. "You young fellers are going to need all the help you can get!"

...

In the skies over Easter Island, the Wing Fortress cast a shadow over the entire landmass. Most of the people who had been on the island had either evacuated or taken shelter, leaving the badniks free rein everywhere. On board the vessel, Dr. Robotnik watched on the monitor as his burrobots dug into the ground near the giant Maoi stone heads on the beach. Tapping his finger impatiently, the mad doctor could feel his temper rising.

"Come on, where is it? My sensors detected Chaos energy buried deep in this part of the island." Robotnik growled, disappointed in his badniks' failure. "Well, we'll just have to dig deeper, even if it topples over those all of these precious ancient statues!"

Suddenly, all the alarms on the Wing Fortress's bridge went off, and Robotnik saw an old biplane from the last century approaching his mighty vessel. The mad scientist was about to laugh at the absurdity of it, until he saw the familiar blue from riding on top of the plane's wings.

"So, that blue buffoon has finally decided to show up, eh?" The mad scientist snarled, pulling out The blue quill in a glass container he had from Sonic. "Well, wait to see what I have in store for him!"

Walking up to Metal Sonic's tube and opening it, he inserted the sparking blue quill into a slot on the blue badnik's body. Then, Robotnik pressed a button, and Metal Sonic's whole body sparked to life. The robot duplicate's eyes lit up with and evil crimson glow, and the turbine in its stomach began to spin. The mad scientist slowly began to smile, as his twisted creation stepped out of its storage tube.

"Prepare yourself, Sonic the Hedgehog." Robotnik boasted aloud, adjusting his glasses with his right hand. "My badniks and I shall deal with your two friends, while Metal Sonic brings about your own doom!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter nine: battle!  
**

As the Tornado closed in on the Wing Fortress, Tails noticed several shadowy shapes swarming out of the massive battleship. Narrowing his eyes, the two-tailed fox realized he was seeing badniks of every shape, size, and design type were coming out of the Wing Fortress, and racing towards the small plane.

"Uhhh, Sonic? Amy?" Tails called out nervously, looking back at his two friends. "I think we have a little bit of a problem here!"

The other two Mobians looked up, and saw the incoming threats approaching from the gigantic vessel. Sonic took a fighting stance, while Amy unbuckled from her seat.

"Tails, use the guns and clear us a path to the airship." The blue blur narrowed his eyes. "I will leap off onto the big vessel to care of Eggman, while you swoop down and drop Amy on the ground to deal with the Badniks there. After that, stay in the air, and take care of the flying robots."

"Will do." Tails replied, pulling his goggles down.

"Got it." Amy agreed, readying her hammer. "Good Luck, Sonic."

The Tornado flew in close, opening fire with it's newly installed laser cannons upon the flying badnik swarm, blowing nearly a dozen of them up. Turtleoids- large flying turtle badniks with smaller robots' turtle pilots- and Nebulas- black spherical badniks with helicopter propellers on top- returned fire on the Tornado. Tails dodged to the left and right, avoiding the lasers and missiles, as the biplane's cannon unleashed another volley on the enemy's fleet, bombarding them with blasts. A few shots managed to graze the Tornado, but Tails flew on, undeterred.

"Go for it, Sonic!" Tails yelled. Sonic leaped off of the Tornado, landing on the surface of the Wing Fortress. Tails quickly pulled away from the airship, and dove towards the island. As he skimmed near the shoreline, Amy jumped out of the passenger seat, and landed gracefully on the sand. After making sure she had landed safely, Tails veered back up towards the sky, and the final battle truly began.

Amy raced along the ground, heading straight for the badniks that were trying to topple over the Easter Island stone heads. Several rollers- spherical badniks that unfolded into robots- came rolling swiftly towards the pink hedgehog, trying to bowl her over. Amy Rose tried to dodge the rounded badniks, but the pink hedgehog was not as swift as her blue counterpart. Several of the rollers slammed into Amy's face, arms, torso, and midsection, knocking her back and forth like a ping-pong ball. The pink hedgehog stumbled around, trying to keep her foot as blow after blow struck her... _hard._

_"ACK OW! EEK! ARGH! AIEEEE!" _Amy Rose wailed, finally tumbling to the ground. Seeing her go down, one of the badniks went rolling towards the pink hedgehog to deliver the killing blow. But before it could reach her, the beaten and bruised Amy Rose leapt back to her feet, and violently swung her hammer back at the round badnik. The blow shattered the rolling robot, breaking it into pieces, and freeing the trapped chipmunk inside.

"HIIIIIIII-YA!" Amy ran through the battlefield, zipping from roller to roller, and smashing each and every one of them into tiny pieces. The normally bubbly and serene pink hedgehog was like a madwoman, shattering ever badnik that happened to get in her path. Many rollers tried in desperation to get away, but it was all in vain. By the time she finally stopped for a breath, Amy Rose had cut a swath of destruction across the battlefield, leaving all the rollers as a field of scrap behind her.

"Whoah." She muttered in disbelief, looking around at her handiwork. "I really made a mess, didn't I?"

The pink hedgehog barely had time to reflect on her accomplishment, when the second wave of attacks hit. Several ball hogs- pig badniks that launched ball-like explosives from their midsections- hurled their projectiles at Amy, who weaved and bobbed this way and that, in order to avoid the projectile explosions.

"BOOM BOOM! BOOM! BOOM BOOM!" The explosions rocked the entire beach area, almost knocking over the ancient stone heads.

"Oh, no!" Amy Rose exclaimed in despair. "I can't let them damage the ruins!"

The explosive spheres rolled along the ground towards her, sometimes even exploding as they hit each other. Realizing she had to act, Amy Rose lifted her hammer, and slowly began to twirl in a circle. Faster and faster the pink hedgehog went, picking up speed, until she was spinning like a hammer-wielding top. As the explosive projectiles rolled towards her, Amy Rose's hammer smacked into each and every one of the spheres, sending them flying back into the pig badniks that had launched them. Several ball hogs exploded, each one crumbling and releasing the small animals with the strike of her whirlwind of hammer fury smashed its way through this second wave of badniks, leaving a second layer of scrap across the landscape.

"Ohhhh..." The pink hedhehog groaned, as she stopped spinniung. "I feel soooo dizzy..."

After destroying all the badniks, Amy rose stumbled over to the pit they had been digging. Sliding down into the bottom of the hole, Amy Rose dig around for a few minutes, before pulling out a glowing purple gem.

"The last chaos emerald!" He exclaimed excitedly, holding the jewel high. "I've finally found it!"

While Amy was fighting the badniks on the ground, Tails was busy in a vicious dogfight in the air. The turtleoids and Nebulas launched several barrages of missile fire at the Tornado, which the two-tailed fox dodged with a quick barrel roll. a few shots managed to strike the wings and the sides of the plane, violently knocking tails around in the cockpit. Tails barely managed to keep the plane aloft, as he turned the stick around to face his attackers.

"Try to shoot me down in my new plane, huh?" The fox yelled in defiance. "I'll blow you flying buckets of scrap clean out of the sky!"

Going into another spin, Tails unleashed a flurry of missiles at the swarm of badniks. The streaking projectiles raced towards the aerial robots, lighting up the sky in a stream of small explosions. Several dozen of the flying badniks were obliterated, freeing all kinds of birds, who all flew off into the sky. But Tails didn't manage to destroy all the badniks, however, and several turtleoids managed to quietly pull up beside the plane, and the robot turtle pilots managed to climb off onto the tornado undetected.

*SMASH!* *BREAK!* *RIIIIIIIP!* The robot turtles began tearing pieces of metal and various parts off of the rebuilt biplane. Finally, noticing the badniks tearing his beloved creation apart, Tails quickly grew angry.

"Hey! What are you junkbots doing back there?!" The two-tailed fox growled. "Get off of my plane!"

Pressing a button on the plane's console, Tails electrified the entire surface of the plane, except for the cockpit. The robot turtles were electrified, shaking and glitching before they exploded. The larger turtleoids, having lost their smaller pilots/companions, tried to ram the damaged plane. A couple of well-placed misses smashed those turtles shells, breaking those badniks apart.

"Well, that takes care of the turtle bots." Tails noted, swinging his plane around to face the Wing Fortress again. "Now to take care of those helicopter-ball-robot- thingies!"

But the Nebulas were already planning to take care of Tails, as they flew above and below the Tornado. The badniks fired nearly thirty harpoons at the Tornado, puncturing the plane all over its body. With that many tethers all over the Tornado, the fleet of Nebulas moved as one, trying to drag the Tornado to the ground.

"Hey you guys, stop trying to string me along!" Tails cried out, grabbing the stick tightly. "Now it's my turn to take you for a ride!"

The Tornado shot ahead at top speed, pulling all the poor nebulas along with it. As the badniks were dragged along behind the plane, they began smashing into each other, exploding as Tails pushed the plane ahead. As the Tornado shook off the last of the Nebulas, all sorts of warning lights began to appear on the plane's console.

"Uh oh, she's taken too much damage from the fight!" The two tailed fox exclaimed, slowly steering the plane towards the ground. "I'm gonna have to bring her in for a landing!"

And as Tails brought his plane back to the ground, he looked back up at the Wing Fortress. He saw explosions coming from the gigantic craft, and hoped Sonic was faring better in his fight aboard the airship...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter ten: Metal  
**

Right after the Tornado had dropped him off, Sonic immediately hit the top of the wing fortress, running. Racing over the top of the vessel, the blue blur came under attack by the various gun turrets built into the ship, and operated by the scratch-like chicken badniks, called clucks. The large gun batteries opened fire, trying to knock the blue hedgehog right off But Sonic was too quick for the gigantic cannons, veering to the left and right, avoiding and evading the oversized cannonballs. The blue blur spin dashed several of the robotic chickens as he ran along, busting both the clucks, and their turrets.

"Ho hum, same old dull badnik routine." Sonic sighed, running along, dodging, and smashing clucks. "This all you got, Eggman? The only way your robots threaten me is by boring me to death. Is this really all you got?"

"No, but thank you for asking." Robontik replied. A door on the surface of the wing fortress slid open, and the extremely obese Ivo Robotnik rose from the deep innards of the vessel, now floating in an odd-looking silver hovercar. Beside him hovered a blue badnik that resembled Sonic... except for the cold, unfeeling glowing red eyes that unnerved the blue blur.

"Eggman, long time no see." Sonic quipped, ignoring the creepy badnik for as long as he could. "You look... fatter. It's amazing that 'egg mobile' of yours can hold your weight!"

"Don't call me by that stupid nickname you gave me, hedgehog! I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the greatest genius scientist in all the world!" The angry fat man replied. "And as to my weight, I have put on quite a few pounds since you stranded me on that accursed mushroom planet. But while you intended for it to be my prison, I have built my Metropolis Zone; a paradise inhabited only by my robots and I!"

"Is that all you care about, Eggman? Robots?" Sonic glared at him in disbelief. "Cold, soulless machines with no thoughts or feelings of their own?"

"Of course! Robots are the perfect model citizens! No arguing or complaining! Merely following their programming in an orderly fashion!" Robotnik ranted. "Humanity is so much more inefficient. Diversity of opinion, diversity of thought... bah! It has brought humanity nothing but chaos, violence, and oppression! Once I have claimed all seven chaos emeralds, I will use their combined power to create the ultimate army! I shall conquer the earth, and unite all of civilization under a single, unified will... mine!"

"NO! People have the freedom to choose their own lives, to believe their own beliefs, and dream their own dreams!" Sonic yelled in defiance. "I'll never stop fighting for the right of people to be themselves, to choose their own paths in life!"

"Bah! You're nothing but an insolent teenager, with no knowledge of how the real world works!" Robotnik waved his hand dismissively. "But no matter! If you oppose me, my metal Sonic will make short work of you!"

Metal Sonic hovered down to the ground, it's eyes blazing in challenge to the blue blur. Sonic gazed at the thing with a smug look on his face.

"You think this little tin can of yours can hurt me?" The blue blur laughed, readying a spin dash. "I'll have thing busted open wide in five- OW!"

Sonic spin dashed right into metal's body, but the hedgehog simply bounced off it's metal body. "What the?!" Sonic was reeling, when the blue badnik spun around, and kicked him into the wall. Before the blue blur could even get up, Metal was on top of him, pummeling Sonic with a series of punches. It took the blue blur several minutes to kick the blue badnik off, by which time Sonic's body was covered by all sorts of welts and bruises.

"AHHAHAHA! You see?" Dr. Robotnik crowed triumphantly. "My robot is far more than you can handle, hedgehog! He's powered by your own energy-charged quill, and he is INVINCIBLE!"

Seeing he was outmatched, Sonic took off running. Metal's jet engine fired up, and he was quickly chasing after Sonic, keeping up with the blue blur wherever he went.

"Yes! Run little hedgehog, run!" The mad scientist cried, following them in his egg mobile. "Now matter how far you go, you cannot escape the iron hand of progress!"

Sonic raced all over the Wing Fortress, running as fast as he could, with his metallic duplicate in hot pursuit. The blue blur ran the entire length of the deck, , then into the hatchway to the inside. They both raced though various storerooms, laugh bays, and recharge areas for badniks. They ran in and out of open portholes, running over the sides and bottom of the airship. The clucks opened fire on both of them, hitting Sonic and Metal with their shots. The blasts nearly knocked the two speedsters off the Wing Fortress, but the pair were able to hold on, and keep running. The pair made laps in and around the giant airship, with Sonic barely staying ahead of his evil twin.

"Hey! Lay off, you stupid pile of scrap!" Sonic looked over his shoulder at his pursuer. "Think you can keep up with me, huh? We'll see about that!"

The blue blur and Metal stopped at several points, exchanging several punches and kicks, before both broke into runs again. On and on the battle went, running with intervals of punching and kicking each other. The blue blur was covered with scars, and several of his quills had been ripped out and tore up, while metal's shiny exterior was covered with huge cracks and dents, during their sixth lap across the Flying Fortress, Sonic spun around, and caught Metal in a fierce grapple.

"It seems you are programmed to be just as arrogant and brash as I am, with just as much attitude as I have. So, our responses to different things are the same." Sonic joked, as the two wrestled with each other. "So basically, you know everything that I'm going to do. But that doesn't help you, because I know everything you're going to do. Strange, isn't it?"

Metal responded by head butting the blue blur, knocking him backwards. Sonic followed up with another flurry of punches, which the blue badnik easily dodged. The robot retaliated with his own flurry of punches, which Sonic then easily dodged. Both opponents curled up into balls, spin dashing into each other again and again. Both Sonic and Metal bounced off of each other and the walls, flying around back and forth like a pair of ping-pong balls. The two speedsters smashed through the walls and ceilings of the Wing Fortress, causing small explosions all over the airship.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Dr. Robotnik panicked. "You two are damaging my precious Wing Fortress! STOP!"

Seeing the damage he and Metal were causing, the blue blur suddenly had an idea. Sonic aimed his attacks to hit the most vulnerable parts of the Wing Fortress, as he and the blue badnik tore through everything in their path. In the fury of their battle, however, Metal managed to land another blow against his flesh-and-blood counterpart. Catching Sonic by the throat, the blue badnik began to choke him. The blue hedgehog struggled against Metal's grip, as Robotnik's face appeared on a nearby monitor.

"Oh, come on now! Just give it up, Sonic!" The mad doctor chortled. "You may have gotten out of trouble by running before, but I believe you've run out of road!"

Pulling on every last ounce of his strength, Sonic barely managed to kick Metal away, and raced his way towards the Wing Fortress's control room. Looking around quickly, he saw the three chaos emeralds Dr. Robotnik had captured, plugged into the vessel's console. Snagging the three emeralds, Sonic raced out of the room before metal reached him, and the blue blur led his pursuer towards the engine room. Sonic raced straight towards the large cylinder that held the power generator, veering away at the last nanosecond to avoid colliding with the machine.

Metal, however, was not as lucky. Unable to react as quickly as Sonic, the blue badnik couldn't stop himself in time.

"You idiot, NO!" Dr. Robotnik cried out, throwing out a warp ring in front of himself. "You'll destroy the whole-"

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

A large explosion ripped through the Wing Fortress, vaporizing the entire warship, along with Metal Sonic. The massive fireball filled up the sky, causing Amy and Tails to look up at the heavens. Dr. Robotnik was blown through the warp ring, but Sonic tumbled down towards the earth below, still clutching the three chaos emeralds. Sonic landed in the ocean with a mighty SPLASH, with his two friends watching from the nearby island.

"SONIC!" Amy cried out in despair, running towards the shore. "NOOOOOO!"

...

_Meanwhile, in another place..._

As Dr. Ivo Robotnik slowly returned to consciousness, he felt a severe pain ringing in his head. Finding himself sprawled face-first on the grass, the mad scientist tried to stand up, somewhat wobbly on his feet. Seeing the Eggmobile crashed nearby, a look of rage crossed his face, and the crazed Robotnik began to rant aloud.

"Curse that stupid hedgehog! He ruined everything!" The mad scientist howled. "Not only did he steal my chaos emeralds, he destroyed my Wing Fortress and Metal Sonic!" Robotnik slowly limped over to his Eggmobile, and tried to get it working again. "When I get back to Metropolis Zone, I'm going to build another army of robots, and blow the earth into a million-"

*THOK!*

Suddenly, a large spear landed in the ground near Robotnik, obviously thrown from the cliff above. Looking upwards, the mad scientist was shocked to find nearly a dozen anthropomorphic echidnas standing on the cliff side. Obviously warriors, they were all carrying spears, bows, and _macuahuitl _'swords'. The echidnas were wearing masks and feathers, and dressed like Mayan warriors from earth's Central America. A fierce looking male warrior- obviously leading hunting party that had stumbled across Robotnik- gazed down at the stranded mad scientist, and began to speak.

"Greetings, stranger. I am Knuckles, son of Chief Pacal, and greatest warrior of the echidna tribe." The echidna named Knuckles announced. "Your strange traveling vehicle has crashed landed on Angel Island; the landmass which floats high above the surface of Mobius." Knuckles pointed his spear at Robotnik. "Do you come to our home as friend or foe?"

Before Robotnik could think of how to reply, his eyes were drawn to a nearby elevated altar, situated opposite the cliff. There, upon the very center of the altar, sat what appeared to be a giant chaos emerald; a master emerald, if you will. It was glowing with an energy that resembled the other chaos emeralds- only obviously much more powerful. Seeing how gullible (or overconfident, Robotnik couldn't decide yet) these echidnas were, not slaying a stranger who might be a potential thief of their emerald on sight, Robotnik slowly smiled as he hatched a new plan.

"Greetings, Noble members of the echidna tribe, guardians of the great emerald." The mad scientist lied through his teeth. "My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, and I am here to warn you about a dangerous thief named Sonic..."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter eleven: Finale  
**

From what he remembered, everything had been darkness.

Sonic remembered only flashes; the battle with metal, grabbing the chaos emeralds, his fall and plunge into the cold, dark ocean. He remembered the water filling his lungs, and the sunlight slipping away as he sank into the deep, dark waters. The blue blur saw images of Amy Rose diving into the water, swimming down and reaching for him as everything went dark. He had a vision of breaking the surface again, as he was slowly dragged back to shore.

"NO , NO! TOO MUCH WATER! I'M DROWNING!" The blue blur wailed, flailing. "AHHHHHHHH!"

Sonic's eyes suddenly opened, and he shot up in bed. Having heard his screams, Amy came running into the tent.

"Sonic! Are you all right?" The pink hedgehog put her hand on Sonic's shoulder. "I heard you crying out!"

"The water..." The blue blur shivered, as Amy Rose hugged him. "The water..."

Sonic I'm so glad you're awake!" Tails walked in, then Saw how his friend was reacting. "Amy, what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, Tails!" Amy replied worriedly. "He just woke up, shaking and yelling."

"The water..." Sonic Muttered. "The water..."

"Oh no, his almost-drowning must have traumatized him." The two-tailed fox said sadly. "Now, he'll never want to go swimming again."

At that moment, Agent Stone came through the flap of the tent the blue blur was resting in. Looking over the three mobians, the government agent began to speak;

"This country owes you a debt for stopping this dangerous threat." Julian 'Snively' Stone explained. "As a thanks, we have covered up everything in regards to your existence to the public, as well as making sure yoiu can have a safe journey home. Don't worry, we'll take of everything."

"Thank you so much for sitting this tent up for used to hide in, Agent Stone, as well as all of your other help." Tails thanked him. "By the way, what branch of government did you say you worked for?"

"Oh, I've been assigned to a new branch, a top-secret group, revived after fifty years of activity, due to all the trouble with Dr. Eggman." Agent Stone continued. "We are called the guard unit of nations... but we prefer to be called G.U.N." The secret agent waved, walking out of the tent. "Needless to say, if we have any more trouble, we'll be in touch."

After Agent Stone had left, Amy rose looked back at Tails.

"Well, that takes care of all of those problems." She motioned over to the table, where the seven chaos emeralds rested. "But what are we going to do with those things?"

"Sonic and I talked about that a few days ago." Tails replied, smiling. And I think we have the perfect place to keep them safe..."

...

Sonic and Tails entered the portal, and arrived in the bizarre realms of the special zone. They found themselves in front of an endlessly spinning maze, surrounded by psychedelic colors and images. Both mobians had to close their eyes to keep from getting dizzy.

"Whoa, this place is sooo trippy." Tails shook his head. "Are you sure it's safe to leave all the chaos emeralds here until we need them?"

This is the perfect place to keep them safe, buddy." Sonic replied, as he and Tails held the emeralds in their hands. "They'll be safe from the bad guys in here. And we're the only ones who can brave this craziness, if we need them again."

The two tossed the seven emeralds out into the crazy lights and flashing colors, before departing back through the portal together.

...

"Hay, Tails?" Amy asked, slurping her drink. "Can you pass the popcorn?"

A few days later, Sonic, Amy, and Tails were back in the house, sitting in front of the television. The blue blur had mostly gotten over his ordeal. The three of them were laughing at Dwayne Johnson's antics in a comedy film, while munching away on a gigantic bucket of popcorn, and guzzling large cups of Dr. Pepper. The trio were so busy with the film, they failed to hear footsteps coming up to the door, and the click as the door was unlocked. Tom and Maddie came in and sat their luggage down, and turned on the lights. The two heard several voices talking from the living room, and both walked down the hallway.

"Sonic, didn't I tell you not to have the neighborhood kids over?" Tom said, surprising the trio. "It's not- oh boy..."

The two humans and three mobians just sat there, staring at each other. There were several minutes of silence, before the blue blur finally spoke up:

"Uhhhh... Tom, Maddie?" Sonic muttered, as Tails and Amy waved at the two humans nervously. "I have two friends of mine I'd really like you to meet..."

**-The end, for now-**

**(well, that's the end of my sonic story! If I get enough positive response and feedback to this story, I will follow up with the sequel I set up here. Anyway, if you have any questions about the characters, the plot or the narrative, please feel free to PM about it! Anyway, that's all for now, and I hope you enjoyed my story!**

**Okay, for story note purposes, I am going to state that in my stores, the characters ages do not match their games counterparts. In my universe, Sonic is about 18, Amy is about 18, Tails is about 12, and knuckles is about 18, this is their level of maturity in human years. Thank you.)**


End file.
